Maria Thorisdottir and Maren Mjelde were the most influential players for Norway in their narrow loss against France in the Women’s World Cup. The Chelsea FC Women’s duo gave their team a chance of an upset result and a platform for the knockout rounds.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: a centreback pairing made in Chelsea led their team in nearly every area of play, but could not hold the margin for a result. Maria Thorisdottir and Maren Mjelde anchored Norway’s back line against France, the host and one of the favourites to win the Women’s World Cup. Mjelde captained the side in a game that was close enough in every respect that the loss felt like a loss, but ultimately was a positive outcome against a much stronger opponent.
Thorisdottir led all players by completing five tackles on five attempts and winning four of six aerial duels. Mjelde had the most clearances (seven) and the most blocks (three), with Chelsea FC Women’s newest signing Guro Reiten just behind with two blocks.
The duo also led all players in passing, teaming up for over a third of Norway’s total. They exchanged 43 passes themselves, 14% of Norway’s 300 passes.
This last stat shows how much of Norway’s performance against France was a rearguard effort, even as the visitors had 56% possession and nearly 100 more passes. All but two of those 43 passes landed in Norway’s half, and the vast majority were in the defensive third. Only two Norwegians completed five passes into the final third: Thorisdottir and Reiten.
Norway’s third-highest pass combination was goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth to Mjelde. By contrast, France’s most active passing lane was the full length of the left touchline with Amel Majri feeding attacking midfielder, goal scorer and France’s joint all-time leading scorer, Eugenie Le Sommer.
A quick run by Valerie Gauvin around Thorisdottir’s shoulder in the opening minute of the second half gave France a 1-0 lead. Thorisdottir looked to have Gauvin’s run covered to goal-side. Gauvin’s quick step away brought her around Thorisdottir’s left and she put a foot in front of the Chelsea defender to slide the ball in towards the far post.
Gauvin’s goal pointed to Norway’s needs for the remainder of the tournament. Martin Sjogren has the team well-organized on defence and in midfield, and his Chelsea-based defenders can do almost everything to keep the opponent off the board.
However, against a high quality opponent against France they will inevitably concede, which means they need to create more from their possession. France had a 16-4 advantage in shots and 6-1 for shots on target from far less time on the ball than Norway. France were hardly counter-attacking, either. They simply created opportunities from whatever time they had on the ball. Norway were not able to use their possession to deny France quality opportunities nor create any of their own.
The defensive structure will be enough to get through many opponents, but as Norway progresses through the tournament they will have to find a better balance for what they do with the ball and how much they produce in front of their defenders.
The next match will bring the Chelsea trio against teammate Ji So-Yun. South Korea have been well below expectations in this tournament, so Norway should be able to secure passage to the knockout stages with a win.
South Korea have yet to score in the tournament while conceding six. This match should be an opportunity for Mjelde to get forward as she did in the opener against Nigeria and as she does at Chelsea, while giving Reiten and the rest of the offence the opportunity to develop more fluidity and lethality ahead of the knockout rounds.